ATLANTA, Oct. 4, 2013 – The SHARE Military Initiative at Shepherd Center has received a $250,000 grant from Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) to help support its rehabilitation and treatment program for service members.

"It has been an honor to serve the men and women of our military,” said Gary Ulicny, Ph.D., president and CEO of Shepherd Center. “This grant from the Wounded Warrior Project will allow Shepherd Center to continue to help these heroes make a successful transition back to the community. We are extremely grateful for the opportunity."

The Wounded Warrior Project is a non-profit veteran service organization whose mission is to honor and empower wounded service members. The grant will expand the SHARE Military Initiative’s ability to serve military service members who have sustained mild to moderate traumatic brain injuries and post traumatic stress disorder while serving on active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan.

As one of few civilian rehabilitation facilities in the nation to develop a separate and dedicated military patient program, the SHARE Military Initiative provides a comprehensive continuum of care specifically tailored to meet the needs of each person, including complimentary housing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, vocational therapy, speech therapy, therapeutic recreation and legal, financial and psychological counseling, among many other programs.

Established through a generous 2008 donation from Atlanta philanthropist Bernie Marcus’ Marcus Foundation, the SHARE Military Initiative is sustained through private contributions — and is provided at no cost to service members.

“The WWP grant program allows us to support the good work and expertise of a broad spectrum of organizations that are dedicated to meeting the needs of injured service members,” said Steven Nardizzi, executive director, Wounded Warrior Project. “We are very proud of the collaboration and commitment that the grant program fosters to help ensure this generation of injured service members is the most successful and well-adjusted in our nation’s history.”

In this second year of operation, the WWP Grants Program continues to work with organizations that provide injured service members with unique, specialized programs and services, often in remote service areas. During two review cycles each year, WWP carefully selects the grant recipients, and to date has provided support to over 70 organizations nationwide.

It is estimated over 50,000 servicemen and women have been physically injured in recent military conflicts, another 320,000 have experienced a traumatic brain injury while on deployment, and as many as 400,000 additional service members live with the invisible wounds of war including combat-related stress, major depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

SHARE Military Initiative

USMC Sgt. Travis Buskuhl participates in visuomotor and cognitive assessment training using the Dynavision in the SHARE Military Initiative. Photo by Gary Meek

About Wounded Warrior Project®

The mission of Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) is to honor and empower Wounded Warriors. WWP’s purpose is to raise awareness and to enlist the public’s aid for the needs of injured service members, to help injured servicemen and women aid and assist each other, and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs. WWP is a national, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. To get involved and learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.

About Shepherd Center

Shepherd Center, located in Atlanta, Georgia, is a private, not-for-profit hospital specializing in medical treatment, research and rehabilitation for people with spinal cord injury, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, spine and chronic pain, and other neuromuscular conditions. Founded in 1975, Shepherd Center is ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the top 10 rehabilitation hospitals in the nation. In its more than four decades, Shepherd Center has grown from a six-bed rehabilitation unit to a world-renowned, 152-bed hospital that treats more than 935 inpatients, 541 day program patients and more than 7,300 outpatients each year.